Gaining supporters increases the power of your campaign, which makes it more likely that your campaign target will notice your petition or open letter and feel the pressure to make change! So it's vital to share your campaign far and wide.

If you're just starting out it can be hard to know where to begin, but your campaign can snowball from a handful of supporters to hundreds or even thousands in the space of a few weeks!

For example, an Organise member started a petition to stop Boris Johnson’s plans to appoint 50 new Conservative Lords and make them promise they’ll never challenge the Conservative government if they take the job. The petition captured the anger and frustration that lots of people were feeling and got over 16,000 signatures in under 24 hours.

Not all actions on Organise need to capture the public’s imagination to have impact, but getting those initial supporters can be a great indicator of your campaign's success.

How to share your petition, open letter, poll or question publicly 📣

To get the ball rolling, send a quick message to close friends, family and trusted colleagues via WhatsApp, text or email with the link to the petition, open letter, poll or question asking them to add their support. Take a moment to go through your contacts or Facebook friends and include everyone you can!

Top tip: If your action is about an issue such as climate action at work, look for Facebook groups that might be interested and share it there. There are lots of big communities already talking and campaigning on specific issues, or around their workplace or profession (e.g. freelancers in the arts, etc).

If you use social media, search for accounts that talk about the issue you're taking action on and message or tag them to request a share on their own account. If you have a connection with anyone with a large social media following, ask them to help you too.

If your petition or open letter relates to a specific area, like a particular supermarket branch, contact local newspapers that may want to hear about the workplace issue you’re facing.

However you share, make sure you give people a good reason to join you - make it personal and explain why the issue is important to you or people you know.

How to share your action and keep your identity protected 🤫

Sometimes, you might want to keep your identity private, like if you're campaigning for change at your own workplace. Don't worry, there are still plenty of ways you can get your action off the ground without revealing your identity!

Here are some top tips for staying safe while sharing a petition, campaign, snap poll or question:

• Start with people you trust. Getting the first 10 signatures or answers can often be the hardest, so ask those closest to you first. If you're nervous about sharing with colleagues, ask friends and family to jump in and get things rolling.
• Share privately. Instead of posting publicly, you can use Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, email or SMS to let people close to you know about the action.
• Ask people you trust at work or in your personal life to share your action too.

If you've followed all these tips and are still struggling to get your campaign or action off the ground, reach out to us at action@organise.org.uk.

Ask your supporters to spread the word 🗣️

Asking supporters to share the action with people they know is the most powerful tool you have.

Every person who signs your petition or open letter, or answers your poll or question, has friends, family and colleagues that could also be interested in the issue. You can ask your supporters to share the action by posting an update via the Create page on Organise.

A good aim is to contact your supporters once or even twice a week, especially at the start. By working with your supporters, you can quickly go from a couple of dozen to more than a hundred supporters - and it can snowball even more.

So, any time you see a jump in signatures or participants, send an update thanking everyone for getting involved and asking them to share the campaign. Every time the issue or anything that touches on your campaign is in the news, share the article with your supporters and ask them to spread the word about your campaign again. When you hear back from your target, or when there's a development in the campaign, let your supporters know and ask them to share again. You get the idea!

Final tips for growing your campaign 🪴

Keep going! Once is never enough when it comes to sharing your campaign. Professional advertisers reckon it takes seeing something seven times before someone will buy their product, and the same can be true for joining a campaign. So don't be worried about posting or sharing too regularly.

Think creatively and take every opportunity. If you see a news story that relates to your action, share a link in the comments section. If you've got a colleague working at another site, give them a goal to grow signatures at their workplace. If there's a trade magazine for your sector, think about writing into the letters section.

How many signatures do petitions or other actions need? 📝

There's no such thing as a perfect number of signatures on a petition, or votes in a snap poll - depending on your action you can have an impact with hundreds or even just dozens of supporters!

If you're working in a small organisation, having 10-20 colleagues add their name can be enough to prove to your boss that a change is needed. An Organise member set up a survey which 15 people completed, and it resulted in their CEO stepping down. Small actions can be mighty!

The important thing isn't the exact numbers, but to try and make sure as many people as possible who are impacted by the issue hear about it.

Need extra help? 💜

If you want help with a petition, open letter, snap poll or question, just drop us a message on action@organise.network and we'd love to help. And if you're ready to create a new action on Organise, click here to get started now.